


Echoes of a Different Life

by AlmightyMirage



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Deal With It, Developing Relationship, F/M, I make my own canon, Rating May Change, Tags May Change, might not be canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-11-01 06:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20810564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmightyMirage/pseuds/AlmightyMirage
Summary: Wraith is a lone wolf. She's meant to be alone, to find the answers she wants, before disappearing once she has them. Mirage simply wants to win and have fun, in hopes of the fame and glory giving him the happiness he's seeked ever since his brothers disappeared. Can the duo and their robot friend get along, and maybe help each other find what they seek, and a little more?Update: I sadly have to inform that this fic will probably forever remain unfinished. I lack the motivation and interest to continue on with it, as I no longer play Apex. I'm sorry to the readers that enjoyed this fic and hoped for more.





	1. First impressions

_He’s looking at you again._

The voices were different around him. Calmer. Usually when they spoke, the voices told were quick, effective and almost panicked. “Shooter, move!” and “You’re in their sights!” almost being shouted at her by the voices were the norm during the games. But outside of that, they usually stayed quiet, only telling her urgent information. But around Mirage, they sometimes appeared again, to Wraiths confusion. 

She had never teamed with him before, nor faced him in direct combat, most likely because she hadn’t been part of the games for too long. She had heard of him though; he had become a bit of a public darling after a few nice wins alongside Pathfinder. And it was a spotlight he seemed to embrace, often taking interviews when other legends would decline, and having a penchant doing flashy moves in the arena. All in all, not the type she wanted to have on her team, despite his obvious talent. Despite all that, here she was on his and Pathfinders team, having been randomly selected shortly before dropping, after deciding not to stick with her first few teams. She’d have to make it work somehow, she thought as she flew alongside the two towards Slums. 

The first time the voices told her he was watching her, she assumed danger right away. They had just cleared out a team, and Wraith was picking up a new gun, while Mirage stood in the doorway, not saying a word after he had witnessed her slicing up the last enemy with her knife. The voices never tended to inform about people looking at her unless there was danger involved, so she assumed he was going to backstab her somehow. Backstabbing her in order to win and get the glory alone seemed like something a guy like him could do, she thought to herself. From then on, she started to answer him coldly. Not that she was the most spirited person to begin with, but she had contempt against him now.

There more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The winning team obviously each got a good pay-out, but the kill leader got an added bonus on top of that, and if you were the kill leader _and_ won, you’d pretty much automatically be the champion the next game, with the added bonus of attention and praise from fans and media. A guy like him would obviously want that, and putting her in a difficult spot to achieve that probably wasn’t beyond his morals.

She expected it to happen quite early on, after she got downed in an ambush at Runoff, isolated after running off while the others were looting. But as her view started to blur, she heard “Full squad down!” over her comms. Thinking to herself that he had gotten his moment of glory, and that he mysteriously wouldn’t reach her in time, she accepted her fate. But then he came sprinting over to her, mumbling “It’s alright, I got you” while injecting a syringe in her to get some life into her gradually weakening body. 

After getting her up, he shared some of his supplies with her to get her back to full health as quickly as possible, in case another squad appeared. “You alright?” she heard him saying, breaking her from her thoughts. “Uh, yeah. Thought I was done for there.” she replied, not willing to say exactly why she had those fears. 

The match went on smoother from then on, with the trio defeating a few squads without much trouble. They had eventually found themselves at Repulsor, sat up at the high walls after a handy Pathfinder zipline, with the end circle seemingly ending up at swamps. The voices hadn’t stopped though, he was still glancing at her occasionally in the calmer parts of the match, especially after fights. Now stood beside her looking towards swamps, he suddenly spoke up.

“I think we should head down below the big house on the rocks there, there’s a small passage down there, rarely used by anyone, and should get us into the swamps themselves unseen.” Mirage said, while pointing out where he wanted them to go.

That’s when it clicked for Wraith. A small, unseen passage. It would be a perfect chance to ambush her and leave her there alone, the cameras probably couldn’t see them down there either way. The robot knew Mirage from earlier, she’d heard of the pair winning before, but never of any third teammate mentioned after fights, so he’d probably go along with it. A duo winning would be a much better story than a trio despite her efforts in the last few fights. 

Suddenly, she snapped. Turning around quickly, she grabbed Mirage’s collar and pushed him up against a thick beam of some sort and pulled out her kunai, holding it against his throat.

“I don’t know what the fuck you are planning, I’ve seen you looking at me constantly like I’m something you have to get rid of, and now taking me down to this hidden cave? If you think for one second that you can get rid of me like that so you and your robot friend here can get all the glory and money, you’re sorely mistaken!” Wraith sneered at him, with her kunai pushed against his throat.

She was staring angrily into his eyes now. His shock was easy to see, but eventually he just looked back into her eyes. Not coldly, but almost with curiosity, like his brown eyes was searching for how to handle the situation.

“Nothing? You have nothing to say?” Wraith said, angry at his lack of response.

“Ehhh….I can explain if you put the knife down, or y-y-y-you know, hold it a bit further away, it kinda hurts to talk with it there.” Mirage said, with a nervous stutter.

“Fine.” Wraith said, holding the knife slightly further away. “Talk.” 

“Okay, so, eh, I’m not planning anything. I want us to win, that is all, and I think staying out of sight can help us do that. And yes, I have looked at you, I’m sorry about that, I won’t do that again. It wasn’t because I want to get rid of you, I-I-I just think you’re really p-p-pretty, that’s all, I swear. I swear on my mother’s life.” Mirage said, speaking as sincerely as he could, blushing a bit at the end of his rambling explanation. 

“What?” Wraith uttered, struggling to process what he had just said.

_He’s telling the truth._ A voice told Wraith, but she was almost frozen in place, cheeks flushed while she looked down at her own feet after Mirage’s confession.

“Friends, the circle is moving in thirty seconds, we should move.” Pathfinder suddenly interrupted, back from checking the nearby buildings for loot. “That is a lovely knife, but may I suggest we stab the enemies instead?” 

“Fine. But I’m watching you.” Wraith said while staring daggers at Mirage, putting down the kunai with a flick of the wrist, her composure back after a brief moment of weakness.

“Have fun, I’ll make sure not to return the favour.” Mirage shouted after her as Wraith took the zipline back down, his usually cheeky responses back once the danger had passed. 

Meanwhile, Pathfinder looked like a confused dog, head tilted to the side with a confused face appearing on his screen as he looked down on the bickering duo.

* * *

She had pulled a knife on him in the middle of the match. He was shocked. It didn't make sense to him, he hadn’t shown any intention to hurt her. The one time she had needed help early in the match, he had been there for her right away. But he had been caught looking at her. Usually he was smarter than that when checking out people, he wasn’t discovered. Hell, as much as he wanted a girlfriend, he normally wouldn’t be checking out a teammate in a match, it was unprofessional, and despite the rumours surrounding him, he was all about winning once the match started. 

But he couldn’t understand why she thought he was going to get rid of her. Fine, he had a reputation for enjoying the spotlight, but he had never been an intentionally bad teammate. Path could swear on that. Probably. He would joke about not liking Pathfinder, and sometimes be a little frustrated with some of his social skills, but he’d never abandon him in a fight. Nor would he do it to a stranger like Wraith. Especially one that had been so skilled and useful to the team as she was. 

But after that event, he couldn’t get her out of his head. He barely could before that, which was why he’d been looking at her. He’d heard about her before, but not thought much more of it. When she had appeared on the dropship as their randomly selected teammate though, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was striking to look at. Tiny, with jet black hair, tied up in a bun, with some loose hairs framing her face perfectly. And her gear, black, with shades of purple, and with a worn scarf around her neck. She looked beautiful in it, it fit her perfectly. 

And she could hold herself in a fight. Hell, she was lethal in fights, she seemed to be one step ahead all the time, and her abilities were amazing for the team. He had no clue how she had gotten those abilities; he had heard of similar stuff before in larger scale, but a single person setting up portals and essentially becoming invulnerable for a short amount of time? Absolutely amazing to watch, and even better to have on the team. 

But then she had pulled a knife on him. She had caught him looking, which was bound to happen eventually. He had been outright staring in awe at her after some of those fights, but why would she think he was going to hurt her? And the crazy part about it? He wanted her even more now. She was beautiful, badass, and she would kill him if needed. Fuck, he was doomed. 


	2. Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mirage goes looking for Wraith, but is distracted on the way.

“Congrats on the win bruddah!” Gibraltar enthusiastically said from his table as Mirage entered the King’s Canyon legends facility cantina. 

“Thanks pal, was a close one.” Mirage said as he approached the table.

“Thought you were done for bruddah, when you started fighting with your teammate there with five squads left, looked like she wanted to chop your head off!” Gibraltar said, laughing loudly with his arm on his chest after he finished talking.

“Felt like it too, she keeps her knife sharp.” Mirage responded, touching his throat slightly, decorated with a small band aid for the occasion. “Speaking of Wraith, have you seen her?”

“No bruddah, looks like you two need to have a talk though, if not she might just do it next match!” Gibby said, still unable to contain his laughter. 

“Yeah…I’ll go look for her after I’ve eaten.” Mirage sighed, still confused after the episode the day before. 

“You do have a way with those women don’t ya bruddah. Might wanna watch out for this one though, one hell of a fighter by the looks of it.” Gibby said more seriously, as Mirage turned to walk to the buffet.

Half an hour later, after eating a good breakfast, Mirage went out of the cantina in search of Wraith. He hadn’t seen her since they got off the dropship late last night, but he figured she was somewhere at the facility. He knew Pathfinder had gone back to Solace City right away to meet the press and to continue the search for his creator, but Mirage didn’t feel like going there right away after a long day, and with a lot on his mind. As for where Wraith could be, he didn’t know. She had seemed pleased enough with their win, but he had been too nervous to talk with her after what happened, so he hadn’t asked what her plans was until the next match.

Mirage walked to the small living area first, in case she was watching TV. The facility wasn’t too big, it was designed mostly to let the legends have somewhere to sleep before and after matches, but people rarely stayed there longer than needed. That meant that the living area wasn’t super big, there was a bit of room there, but you’d mostly find a few people sitting on the couch in front of the tv. Looking through the door, Mirage saw that she wasn’t there, and was about to go look elsewhere when Octane spotted him.

“Eyyyy compadre, what’s the rush?” 

“Damn it.” Mirage muttered to himself under his breath. “I’m looking for Wraith, have you seen her?”

“No amigo, haven’t seen her. You want a closer look at that knife again?” Octavio responded, laughing at Mirage.

“S-s-seriously, has everyone seen that?” Mirage said, frustrated that word had spread about the situation.

“Oh yeah, cameras all focused on you guys once she had you pinned up there. Tip for next time amigo: run.” Octane confirmed, still laughing at Mirage.

“I’m not taking advice from you Octavio, has Ajay even texted you back yet?” Mirage retorted, wanting to shut the speedster up. 

“Busted. No, chica is still mad me, but I’ll catch up to her soon hermano, the rush I feel when she’s mad is almost as good as my jump-pad, hahah!” Octavio responded, before throwing himself back on the couch to play more videogames.

“Sure you will.” Mirage said, as he finally was allowed to walk out.

Mirage then walked outside to look in the gardens for her. The facility was set near the ocean, but had a backyard area with some trees and benches and a small fountain for decoration. Considering their profession, it was unexpected that the Syndicate payed up for such a nice outside area. On the other hand, their profits were probably big enough for an area ten times the size, Mirage thought to himself when he first saw the place in his early days as a legend. 

Looking through the gardens, he couldn’t find Wraith, but he did find Lifeline sitting on a bench listening to music.

“Hey Ajay, fancy seeing you here.”

“Hey brother, what brings you out here? Not going home to your bar to celebrate?” Ajay questioned after popping her earbuds out, as Mirage usually travelled right back to Solace City after the games.

“Planning on heading back later, meeting up with Path there, he went back last night.” Mirage explained, before continuing. “I’m looking for Wraith, have you seen her?” 

“I think I saw your woman heading into the training room earlier.” Ajay explained, pointing up to the floor the training room was at.

“She’s not my woman.” Mirage said instantly, sounding flustered.

“No, but you want her to be.” Ajay said, teasing Mirage.

“No I don’t.” Mirage said, trying to get Ajay off his back, but she wasn’t buying it.

“Sure ya don’t. Just don’t screw it up brother, I can’t help ya if she slits your throat.” Ajay said, laughing at him.

“Ugh.” Mirage uttered, lacking a proper response to her, before he decided to switch the topic. “How are you feeling? Was a close one yesterday.” 

“Nothing I can’t patch up. Takes a lot to take me out, so credit to you and ya team.” Ajay confirmed, some disappointment in her voice after ending up in second place.

“Alright, that’s good. Planning on getting back in there soon?” Mirage questioned, as the legends typically took a little while off. Typically, there was two matches per month, and the legends took varying times off so the matchups would vary a bit.

“Mmmm, not sure. My squad wasn’t the best, need to find a fighter to pair up with next time around, these new guys couldn’t cut it.” Ajay explained, clearly unsure about her next move. 

“I getcha. Can be frustrating without a set team to work with.” Mirage sympathized, understanding her frustration. “Either way, I need to go find Wraith now, thanks for the chat Ajay.”

“Likewise, brother.” Ajay said before popping her earbuds back in and putting her music back on.

Mirage wasn’t really that familiar with the training room of the facility. He had been there a few times, but usually he didn’t hang around at the facility longer than he needed to. He liked the social part of it – the regular legends were mostly nice people, like Ajay and Gibraltar, with a handful of less nice ones, like Caustic. Walking up there though, he suddenly realized he didn’t have the faintest clue what he would say to Wraith. He wanted to ask her about joining him and Pathfinder for another match, but outside of that he had no idea. He wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted nothing to do with him by now, but he hoped that his confession at least eased her concerns about him trying to kill her. He just hoped it would go better this time.

As he approached the training room, he could hear someone punching a bag inside there, and some heavy breathing. There was definitely someone there. And then he looked through the door, and saw _her_. Wraith was the only one there, the only one that felt like working out even more the day after the games. She was dressed in a purple tank top and black tights, with her hair tied up in a lazier bun than the day before. And her tank top was drenched in sweat, she had clearly been going on for a while. Without turning around she suddenly spoke up.

“You can come in, Mirage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the little cliffhanger. :)


	3. Speak To Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they talk a lot.

“Ehhh, hi.” Mirage said, hand on the back of his head as he walked in the door.

“Hi.” Wraith replied emotionlessly, as she turned around to look at him, arms crossed.

“How’d you know it was me? Got eyes in the back of your head or something?” he asked, not sure how she knew without even turning to look at him.

“Something like that. It’s a long story.” Wraith replied, not willing to talk about her abilities. “Why are you here, Mirage? Come to look at me again or something?” she continued, with an annoyed tone.

“Well, ye-no, I uh, wanted to talk you, about uh, what happened yesterday.” he explained.

“We won, there’s nothing more we need to talk about.” she replied coldly.

“But there is. We were a great team, but you held a knife to my throat. Mom has been blowing up my phone ever since, it made telev…tele, it made TV. Hell, the other legends won’t shut up about it either. We need to talk about that.” Mirage explained.

“I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have threatened you. I misunderstood you looking at me, I was sure you were planning something.” Wraith explained, trying to avoid the subject.

“But why would you think that? I would never have done anything like that. I _know_ that I’m loud, and I know that I might have given you a bad impression, but I would never, ever do that to my teammate. I want to win just as much as you do. I’m sorry that I looked at you during the match, I didn’t mean anything bad by it, I swear.” Mirage said, letting out a lot of emotions at once.

“I-I-I don’t know, okay?” Wraith sighed as she took her hands to her forehead, before continuing. “I knew that you’re a well-known legend, with a reputation for loving the spotlight, so I figured that if you were a duo by the end and won, you’d get more praise and press afterwards. And when you mentioned the underground passage I just…snapped, I thought you were going to ambush me there, out of the view of the cameras to get rid of me.” 

“So you don’t trust me.” Mirage concluded.

“No, I don’t. I don’t trust anyone, really.” Wraith confirmed.

“Then we need to change that, at least the part about trusting me. Me and Pathfinder would really like to have you on our team, as we made a damn good trio, but we need you to trust us, and we need to be able to trust you, or else it won’t work.” 

“You guys…want me on your team? After what happened?” Wraith said, looking surprised

“Yeah.” 

“I’m…uh, flattered, but I like to work alone. I have other motivations than just winning, so I don’t want to distract a team with that.” Wraith said, trying to push Mirage away.

“We all have different reasons why we’re here, but that doesn’t stop people from teaming up. Pathfinder wants to find his creator, and hopes that getting famous through the games will help him do that. Ajay, or Lifeline as you probably know her as, wants to earn money from the games for the Frontier Corps. Gibraltar joined the games to keep his friends safe. I don’t know your reasons, but we wouldn’t stand in the way of them.” Mirage explained, understanding what Wraith was trying to do. 

“And what’s your reason?” Wraith questioned, taking the bait completely.

“Woah, woah, woah. Now we’re getting personal here. Let’s get to know each other slightly first, okay? You know me as Mirage, but my actual name is Elliott Witt. You can call me Elliott.” Elliott said, taking the chance to introduce himself.

“Elliott…that’s a nice name.” Wraith said quietly, clearly thinking.

“Now that I’ve said my name, it’s your turn. What’s your name?” Elliott said, trying to push Wraith into opening up slightly.

“Wraith.” She responded flatly.

“Your name is Wraith?” Elliott questioned. “Isn’t that more like nickname, to maybe scare the opponents or something?”

“I... I don’t have a name, okay? I’ve just called myself Wraith ever since…ever since what happened..” Wraith said frustrated, tears forming in her eyes.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Do you want to sit down?” Elliott said, trying to console her.

“Yeah…” she said, before Elliott lead her to a bench by a nearby wall. Elliott made sure not to sit right beside her, careful not to invade her personal space.

“If you want, I can tell you a bit about why I’m here, and then you can try to say a little bit about why you’re here?” Elliott offered, hoping to get her to open up slightly.

“Okay.” Wraith sniffled. She hated this. Not opening up, that felt oddly…nice, but showing emotions like this wasn’t like her. She suddenly felt vulnerable, like her façade was broken.

“Okay. I live in Solace City, I own a bar there. I used to be a bartender myself when I heard stories from comp-co-competitors about the games. I had wanted to join for a long time, but I was scared. Not for my own life, but for mom. I have….had three brothers, one of them died, and then the others went missing in the war. I didn’t really know what to do anymore after they died. Mom and I moved to Solace to get away from the past, but I-I just couldn’t. No amount of work helped. Eventually mom understood what I wanted to do, and supported it. She gave me my holo-kit, and we’ve worked on it together since to improve it. And here I am. Just looking for a way to escape the past, I guess.” Elliott explained carefully, trying his best to open up so she could trust him. 

“Sounds like you and your mom are close.” Wraith said briefly, leaned forwards with her head in her hands, looking across the room at nothing in particular.

“Yeah, you could say that. She’s the most important person in my life. I want to make her proud while I’m here.” 

“I’m sorry I made her scared I was going to hurt you. I hope she doesn’t have an issue with it if I decide to join your squad.” Wraith said, turning her head to look at him apologetically.

“So you’ll join?” Elliott asked, now more perked up.

“I’ll consider it.” Wraith said.

“Okay, it’s something at least.” Elliott said, happy that he was getting closer.

“I’ll…tell you a bit about myself too. The little I know, at least. I think I owe you that much after what I pulled yesterday, and after your honesty.” Wraith said with a slight sigh, unsure about how to proceed.

“Okay, just..take your time, I don’t want to force you to tell me anything.” Elliott said, not wanting to push her away.

“It’s okay. I-I woke up in some sort of facility a few years ago, with no memory, and no name. I got out somehow, and I had these powers, that you probably saw in our match.” Wraith explained, sadness evident on her face.

“You’re looking for your name?” Elliott questioned, for clarification.

“Yeah. I think I can find it in King’s Canyon, there’s a lot of data stations there connected to the facility I was in, I just need to find out the exact location to get back there…and find out who I am.” Wraith confirmed with a nod.

“We’ll help you.” Elliott said right away, not even hesitating slightly.

“We?” Wraith asked, not really processing what he was saying.  
“Yeah. Me and Pathfinder will help you find that facility, and help you find out your name.” Elliott said, now determined to help her.

“You will? Wow….thank you…” Wraith said, not sure what to say.

“Squadmates?” Elliott asked with a big grin on his face.

“Squadmates.” Wraith confirmed with a slight smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are really, really appreciated, and keeps me motivated to write these things, so if you like it so far or have some thoughts on it, please let me know! :D
> 
> If you want to reach me more privately, I can be found at almightymirage on Tumblr.


	4. Why do we fall?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wraith joins Mirage and Pathfinder for a second match - surely it can't go much worse than last time?

Wraith had no idea why she had told Mirage her motivations behind participating in the games, or why she had opened up to him at all. Originally, she didn’t want to talk with either of them at all. It was awkward, she had made a fool out of herself in their match for no reason. They had won the match in the end despite some awkward communication in the last few minutes, but after that experience she was determined to stick to herself.

She felt like she didn’t need a consistent team to keep checking data terminals across King’s Canyon, so she could locate the facility she had originally exited from. More than anything, it was frustrating that she couldn’t remember where the facility was. It was somewhere in King’s Canyon, that’s all she knew. She had left the facility without a name, no idea where she was from, and in her confusion after exiting, had forgotten where it was. 

But so far, she had made some progress. It was a process of elimination, essentially. Most likely the old facility had been covered up somehow, but digging up the whole of King’s Canyon wasn’t an option. She had been digging into all the terminals and data storage areas she could find across the canyon for close to a year now, with little progress. First in some stupid qualifying matches she had breezed through with ease while trying to identify where to start looking, and then as a normal competitor in the last few months. She hadn’t won much yet, having only teamed with complete strangers, but she had been able to go through a decent amount of data. 

A few of her past teammates had questioned her for what she was doing, claiming she wasn’t focused, and had each regretted doing so. She was intent on finding out who she was, but once she had what she wanted, she would be all in for the win. In the meantime, the voices looked after her. But she didn’t want a permanent squad. She didn’t need the personal ties; she didn’t need the pressure of being in a recognized trio. She didn’t need help, despite the complications of running off alone to download data.

But Mirage, no, _Elliott_ had broken down her walls somewhat, like he had found some crack in the wall and slipped through there. He was smarter than he gave the impression of publicly, that’s for sure. It was surprising that he even wanted to team with her again after what happened, but he had made a good point. They were good together, the three of them. And it would be easier for her to find what she wanted with support of her team.

But the most surprising was how…nice he was to her. He had no reason to be, given how she had treated him, both in the match and how cold she had been to him when he talked to her the day after. And he’d opened up to her completely, right away. There was no reason to trust her, yet he had opened up to her, and he wanted to know about her. He wanted to know just so they could be teammates. He cared. He wanted to help her. 

The issue was what he said when she originally confronted him. He thought she was pretty. He’s attracted to her. She wasn’t sure how to deal with that. He was really nice to her, he seemed like a good guy. And he was handsome, really good looking. But she wasn’t looking for any of that. The only thing that mattered was finding her own name and why she ended up in the position she was in, then deal with the rest after that. Love wasn’t an option until then, she didn’t need that distraction and burden on her already heavy shoulders. Besides, he could probably have whoever he wanted, and probably already did. At most he’d want a quick hook up, but that wasn’t an option for her either. It’d just make things weird. 

Yet despite all that, here she was, teaming up with Mirage and Pathfinder. He wanted to use Mirage within the games, apparently. Didn’t want to break his façade during the games, he had told her before the match. She ended up declining the offer to go out with him and Pathfinder the same night she had opened up to Elliott. It was a nice offer, but it had all been a bit much for her. He had apparently told Pathfinder about her goal being to find her own name, which he was seemingly all in on doing. As robots go, he was confusing, but he seemed kind hearted as long as you were on his team. 

* * *

“Friends! There is a sniper on the top of the skeleton!” Pathfinder called out, as Mirage and Wraith made their way out of Thunderdome with Pathfinder looking out from the very top of the area.

“Gotcha.” Mirage replied, as a Longbow shot whizzed past his head just before he got behind a rock. “Woah, that was close.”

“Stay behind that rock. I’ll make a portal.” Wraith commanded, making sure that he got out of there alive.

“Yes ma’am.” Mirage responded.

“Never say that again.” She said, before starting her portal and entering the void to avoid the sniper. 

“Yes ma’am.” Mirage said, failing to contain his laughter.

A few seconds later, Wraith made it to him and opened a portal, which they both took back to the safer spot Wraith opened it from.

“Friends, two enemies are approaching the portal.” Pathfinder informed the duo, making them stay focused. 

Right on time, an enemy came out of the portal at Wraith and Mirages end, only to be met by the duo shooting them down. 

“One guy down. Any more out there, Path?” Mirage asked through the comms.

“Positive, there is an enemy 50 meters from the portal.” Pathfinder confirmed, keeping watch with his Triple Take.

“Okay. Open fire and we’ll chase him.” Wraith said, as she went through the portal again.

Pathfinder did what he was asked, and hit a good shot. The enemy managed to evade the second shot, but once they got behind cover, the duo of Wraith and Mirage shot them down.

“Enemy down. See anyone else?” Wraith said, not sure if they got everyone. They had only seen two enemies, so they couldn’t be sure that all were gone. 

“Unsure, friend. I do not see the sniper anymore.” Pathfinder responded.

“Okay, regroup on us then. Stay alert.” Wraith said, unsure if the last person would challenge them with their teammates down and out. 

_Sniper. Move._

A shot barely missed her, but hit Mirage, who was crouched right near her, in the thigh.

“Path, we need help, Mirage is hurt. Sniper, south.” Wraith called out, as she hid herself behind cover.

While Mirage patched up his leg wound and took some painkillers with Wraith keeping guard, Pathfinder took a big swing with his grapple, landed behind the enemy and took them out with his shotgun.

“Looks like I beat you. High five!” Mirage and Wraith heard through the comms, looking at each other and shaking their heads with a smile.

It was only her second game with them, but already Wraith was taking charge early. It was a change of pace for Mirage and Pathfinder. With the rotating cast of third teammates, they had usually been the ones to lead, but now they had another person that knew what they were doing, and acted accordingly. It was odd, especially after their last match. The media would undoubtedly be surprised that they were teaming again after the incident that aired a month prior, so they had to avoid any incidents so the media would leave the subject alone. It had been difficult for Mirage to answer questions about it when meeting the media, and it had distracted Pathfinder’s search for his creator. But she knew that it couldn’t happen again, and he trusted that she wouldn’t do anything like that after their talk. 

“Solace to Mirage.” Wraith said, as she punched his arm, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Ow, what was that for?” He questioned, looking offended.

“You’re not paying attention. I was asking if we could go to the bunker, I want to start checking the computers there.” She explained to him.

“Oh, sorry. Yeah we can do that. Did Path agree too?” 

“Yes, he agreed, though hesitantly.”

The Bunker wasn’t a place any of them frequented. It didn’t suit Pathfinder at all, and unless forced to pass through there, Mirage and Pathfinder had avoided the place. But for the sake of Wraith, they’d make an exception. The path there was action-free, they didn’t see or hear anyone, and Wraith started digging into the files in the room to the right from the upper entrance. Pathfinder kept guard where they entered, while Mirage kept guard by the lower entrance. And for a few minutes, they got some peace and quiet. 

“I hear footsteps near me, might need help.” Mirage whispered over the comms.

“Try to hold them off, I’ll be there in a minute.” Wraith responded, trying to quickly finish up her work.

“I am on my way, friend!” Pathfinder said.

From there, it happened quickly for Mirage. He held the other team off for a bit, but with the assistance of Caustic they managed to break the trickster’s line of sight and push up, with him taking cover inside a small room. Caustic spotted this, and tossed a trap to replace the now broken door, trapping Mirage inside the room. As this happened, Pathfinder came flying down the stairs, and engaged the other two members of Caustics squad. 

Meanwhile, Wraith pulled out her memory stick to the sound of gas and gunshots downstairs. Rushing down, she saw Pathfinder getting rid of one enemy, and before chasing the other one outside. But she couldn’t see Mirage. Before she looked through the window the room to the left, which she had ran by to see if Pathfinder needed help.

“The results have come in. You. Lose.” She heard from Caustic, as he slowly walked up to Mirage to finish his prey. Wraith ran in the door and shot down Caustic, before hurling him into a portal. Destination unknown. Her mind then went to Mirage, to get him back up. She immediately bent down and stuck the emergency syringes the legends were equipped with into him, as he was slowly starting to fade away. After a little bit, he started to wake up.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asked him, worried after he had stayed down so long.

“Yeah, yeah. Better now at least. Thanks, honestly. Thought I was a goner there, that gas absolutely screwed me.” Mirage responded, almost reassuring himself that he was okay. “Where’s Path?” He then asked, before Wraith had the chance to speak.

“Okay, good. Didn’t look too good there. I’m sorry I took so long.” Wraith said, feeling guilty that this happened while she wasn’t helping. “Pathfinder is right outside, keeping watch while we waited for you to get back on your feet.” 

“Oh, okay. No worries about that, we’re here to help you.” He reassured her. “Did you get what you needed?” He continued, while he bandaged some of his wounds and took some painkillers.

“I got a good bit of it; I’ll get the rest some other time. We need to move soon.” Seeing that he had finished patching himself up, she stuck out her hand. “You ready to go?”

“Yep.” He replied, taking her hand as she helped pull him up. Walking out of the bunker, he suddenly spoke up again. 

“Guess I owe you dinner now huh?” He said with a small chuckle.


End file.
